The Canadiens lost the opening match of their Eastern Conference semifinal against the Penguins 6-3, but of bigger significance is the loss of star defenceman Andrei Markov.

Markov was hurt when he fell oddly after a hit by Matt Cooke. Markov was helped off the ice, unable to put any weight on his right knee.

P.K. Subban opened the scoring for the Canadiens, his first career NHL goal. But the Penguins got two on the power play before the period was over. Sergei Gonchar and Jordan Staal got pucks past Jaroslav Halak.

Kris Letang and Craig Adams added second-period goals for the Penguins, while Michael Cammalleri scored for the Canadiens, who trail 4-2 after 40 minutes. Alex Goligowski and Brian Gionta traded goals in the third period, which saw the Carey Price replace Halak after the Penguins’ fifth goal. Bill Guerin scored into an empty net to cap the scoring.

Game 2 goes Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Pittsburgh, with Game 3 and 4 in Montreal next Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.

290 Comments

The whole CBC crew should be put out to pasture. There is not one good commentator amongst them. Bob Cole calling a Montreal, when Pittsburgh was getting it. A gloved pass, he calls a high stick. Can he see the game or is he just guessing out there. CBC should have had Jim Hughson do the Habs and let Cole do the Canucks.

If you didn’t know any better, you would swear you were watching an American telecast.

To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.

I agree, but on here logic doesn’t seem to exist. Many posters suggested the idea, that put Price in tonight and give Halak a rest and they were roasted for it. Seems like a good idea now. Halak has been fighting the puck all night. Now here we sit 2 goal down going into the third. If we lose , what do you do put Price in and hope we win game two and give Halak that rest he needed.

If we don’t then Halak won’t get a rest the rest of the series. So the idea to play Price tonight was the correct one, but no could see that for the Halak blinders. I love how Halak has played and I want him to continue to excel, but he too is human and will have bad games due to either just a bad game or mentally or physically tired. I think this game Halak is Physically tired.

He should have just been rested tonight, and got the green light for game two. If we won game one with Price, a bonus. Just the way a few of us saw it, going into tonight’s game. We no use crying over spilled milk now. GO HABS GO, let’s get a couple in the third and tie this thing up. Fleury doesn’t look all that solid either.

To you from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high.

Cole and Cherry are dying because the Laughs (Leafs) are not in the playoffs. They emit anti-Canadiens sentiment when they speak. Cherry more obvious of course. I do find Cole classier than Cherry. He is more PC. But when you hear the TSN boys, the CBC lads seem outdated.

Habs obvioulsy emotionally and physically drained from beating Washington. Most connaisseurs would not expect the Canadiens to win. I’d rest Halak for the next game And as long as we keep it respectable. I’d send Moen or Lapierre to kill Cooke. Seriously. Just like 70s style hockey.

As Sean Connery said in the Untouchables: They send one of yours to the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue.

1- Our secondary scoring outscores theirs. Chances our their top guns will outdo ours, so we need our muckers to come up big. It’s a good sign that Laps, Moore, Moen (was he hurt at the end of last night?) and even Pyatt have been playing well.

2- Halak continues his hot stretch. I fear he might need a rest mid-series as he did in round one, but he is clearly capable of stealing games, regardless of how powerful the opposition’s offense is.

3- In-game adjustments and matchups. Identifying what forward lines and D pairings we want to set up against the Crosby line, Malkin line etc. early on will be key. This comes down to coaching, and hopefully Martin will be able to make the necessary adjusments.

4- Stealing the series opener on the road. Often the team that finished their series last wins game one despite being tired, namely because their intensity level is still high. Obviously Pittsburgh has the experience of two straight playoff runs so they will be prepared, but if we come out flying early on and score early as we did often in Washington, it will take their crowd out of it and give us some momentum. Sure, we took Game One against the Caps and then proceeded to drop three straight, but that opening win gave us the confidence that we could play with the Caps and set the tone for the rest of the series. A win in Steeltown right off the bat would do the same.

5- Shut down the Penguins’ power play. It would be nearly impossible to replicate the superhuman performance that our PK gave against the Caps’ high-octane PP unit. The Penguins have almost as much firepower, though their second wave will not be as dangerous as Washington’s. If we can hold them off when down a man, our chances improve significantly.

FIVE WAYS THE PENGUINS CAN BEAT US:

1- Malkin “wakes up”. Pittsburgh is a different beast because they are built down the middle- their best players aren’t coming down one specific wing. Crosby was obviously lights-out against Ottawa so we will key on him first, but the Staal line was effective as well. If Malkin gets going, we will have a tough time because there will be three different lines with great distributors on each. Our D will have to up their awareness levels.

2- Fleury gets better. He was average at best in round one, yet the Penguins still won. Fleury hails from Sorel, QC and will undoubtedly bring his best game against the Habs. He’s not always flashy but the kid knows what it takes to win. If he finds his groove, we might have a tough time.

3- Their D can actually shut down top forwards. Washington was in rough shape on the back end, lacking a true shutdown guy: their closest to that classification would be Schultz and Morrisonn (that dude should have traded in his extra “N” for some offensive game). The Penguins have Orpik, and Jay McKee is an excellent shot-blocker. Gonchar’s defensive game is often overshadowed by his offense (similar to Markov). Our smaller forwards will likely have a tougher time this round finding open ice; hopefully it won’t deter their willingness to play hard along the boards and in the corners.

4- Forwards who back-check. The Penguins have a lot of character guys, but their top guns are capable at both ends of the rink as well. Crosby and Malkin aren’t ready to be mentioned in the same breath as Datsyuk as some of the best “all-around players”, but they are more defensively inclined than a couple of Russians named Alexander. Don’t forget Crosby’s timely dive to save a puck from going over the goal line in the Ottawa series. He has come a long way as a defender at the NHL level. As a result, don’t expect as many odd-man rushes as we had in the Washington series.

5- The experience factor. Yes, the Pens lost some of their key pieces of their Cup run(s) of the last two springs (one of them is now a huge asset in our dressing room), but the core of this team is intact and they know what it takes to win. Two Game Seven wins on the road last year. They won’t panic or fall apart the way the Caps did. There are certain “intangibles” that you can’t overlook with this team. They are focused, dedicated, and well-coached. We will have a series on our hands.